Divest What Now?

“Divestment Movement is the call for public interest institutions to sell whatever financial holdings they have in fossil companies.”, as explained explicitly by environmental writer Naomi Klein. The institutions include colleges, faith organizations, and municipal governments.

The rationale behind this movement is simple. The fossil fuel companies have every intention of pushing the planet beyond its boiling point. Read about how dangerous that is in article Paris Agreement. The profit earned does not serve the community but only to fatten its stockholders’ bank account to obesity. Hence, it makes perfect sense any responsible institutions should stop funding them. The money should reinvest in the renewable energy sector instead.

The movement has gained much traction since its official launch in November 2012. It has since spread from the United States to Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, and Britain. Over 100 cities, states, and religious institutions have answered to the call. NYC is only the latest addition to the party.

With so many victories the movement is winning now, it has no short of critics at its initial stage. The movement itself was argued to be incapable to bankrupt the oil giants. But that was missing the whole point.

Environment and Economy are husband and wife

As Sara Blazevic, a divestment organizer at Swarthmore College, puts it, the movement is “taking away the hold that the fossil fuel industry has over our political system by making it socially unacceptable and morally unacceptable to be financing fossil fuel extraction.”

And Cameron Fenton, one of the leaders of the divestment push in Canada, adds, “No one is thinking we’re going to bankrupt fossil fuel companies. But what we can do is bankrupt their reputations and take away their political power.” (Quoted directly from “This Changes Everything” by Naomi Klein)

More crucially, it puts the topic on the table for discussion. People are encouraged to give attention and take their stance on the matter – a situation Malaysia desperately needs. The movement will pave the way for making important legislation. One example is ban on political donations from fossil fuel companies. Or even better – outlaw fossil fuel advertising on mainstream media, much like how Malaysia legally prohibits tobacco advertisement. (What other legislation Malaysia is proud of and ahead of the world? Let me know below!)

The super rich illusion

The divestment movement draw strength from the people, not the super rich. Bill Gates may have expressed concern about climate change. His 1.2 billion USD investment in oil giants BP and ExxonMobil definitely says otherwise (as of December 2013). Gates also repeatedly denounced the reliability and efficiency of current renewable technology. The irony is that same technology he referred to has succeeded in providing 25% percent of Germany’s electricity today. Frankfurt and Munich are even on their way to 100% renewable energy by 2050 and 2025 respectively. Instead, Gates insists on inventing new ‘technology miracles’.

He proposed nuclear reactors in which, coincidentally, he is the major investor and chairman of the nuclear start-up TerraPower; Gates also pushed for machines that suck carbon out of the atmosphere. Again, as if by personal and exclusive blessing from the Lady Luck herself, he happens to be the primary investor in at least one such prototype; How about the direct climate manipulation also championed by him? You guessed it. Gates funded the research to block the sun and patented several hurricane-suppression technologies.

At this point, the super rich looks suspiciously more interested in making money out of global disasters than preventing them. In fact, a lot of people think it that way. After all, it is this realization that gave birth to the Divestment Movement.

What do you think about the divestment movement? Let me know in comment below!

[Mindset Public Talk] Connecting to Nature & Systems Thinking for a Better City

We are pleased to invite you to our first Mindset Public Talk of 2018. This event is in conjunction with The World Urban Forum in Kuala Lumpur and features two presentations, from Dr Chris Ives (University of Nottingham, UK) and Dr David Tan (United Nations University – International Institute for Global Health). Both speakers will discuss areas of their research, which offer innovative perspectives for moving towards urban sustainability (details below).

This event is one of Mindset’s Public Talks – monthly events that are generally (but as this month, not always) held on the evening of the third Wednesday of each month. These talks are aimed to a general audience including academics, government officers, NGOs, people from the relevant industries, and any person with an interest for environmental issues. We are looking forward to see you in this and future Mindset events.

Please do join us and share this information with others who might be interested.

About the Speakers and the Talks

Connecting to nature in the city: Current knowledge and new directions for sustainable urbanisation

Being ‘connected to nature’ is increasingly recognised as vital for a good quality of life but increasingly difficult to achieve in the context of rapid urbanisation. In this talk, concepts of human-nature connectedness will be outlined based on insights from diverse fields of scholarship. The challenge of enhancing connections to nature in the new urban era will then explored. Actions for connecting people to nature will be related to the vision of cities presented in the UN’s New Urban Agenda before proposing a framework for how nature can be embedded in pathways towards urban sustainability.

Dr. Chris Ives is an interdisciplinary researcher with expertise in urban social-ecological systems and the human dimensions of environmental management. He joined the University of Nottingham in 2016 after holding research positions at universities in Australia and Germany. As an Australian, Chris loves the outdoors but is also fascinated by how cities function in different parts of the world. His research has focused on the values urban residents assign to green space, the ethics of conservation policy, the biodiversity of streamside habitats and ways of conceptualising sustainability transformations.

Systems Thinking for Urban Health and Sustainable Development

Health begins in the environments we live and operate in. Cities play a pivotal role, both as the environments that are home to a majority to human beings today, and as engines of development that are shaping the global environment of tomorrow. The relationships that govern the operation of cities are complex, difficult to observe and understand. Systems thinking is a tool for tracing and exploring the feedback loops that govern complex systems. The talk will introduce the SCHEMA project, “Systems Thinking and Place-Based Methods for Healthier Malaysian Cities,” which uses systems thinking for understanding specific problems and for facilitating communication between disciplines and between experts and non-experts to break down information and management silos.

Dr. David Tan is a systems thinking researcher with a background in environmental engineering. He joined United Nations University – International Institute for Global Health in 2016, where he explores the linkages between urban environments and public health and wellbeing. His interests include sustainable housing and transit solutions and figuring out how to get key actors in urban environments to see the impact they have on health.

An alliance of the Malaysian Nature Society, TRAFFIC Southeast Asia, Wildlife Conservation Society-Malaysia Programme and WWF-Malaysia, supported by the Department of Wildlife and National Parks Peninsular Malaysia for joint implementation of the National Tiger Conservation Action Plan for Malaysia.

Your reservation on a CAT Walk is confirmed once payment is made. Participation is on a first-come-first-served basis, and are limited to 10 people / trip. Volunteers must be at least 18 years old and is physically fit.

A Day Out With Dolphins & Dolphin Researchers

We are having our first trip of 2018 for a one-day dolphin research experience with the MareCet Team at the end of this month! If you wish to be out at sea in search of the dolphins and experience how dolphin research is being conducted at our project site, email us at to book a spot or enquire for more information! Spaces are limited.

Welcome to MESYM!Connecting the green dots

MESYM.com is a crowd-sourced platform and a living database for environmental movements in Malaysia. There are many good actions being done out there. Our goal is to bring them together. We connect the green dots.